Our Alaska Heli Ski Guides

Aaron Brill, Operator and Head Guide

With more than 30,000 hours of combined guiding/snow safety/piloting and more than 1,000 first descents, Aaron has a unique and specialized skill set. Known as the original ski industry disruptor and always innovating, Aaron has a comprehensive background in skiing and aviation with decades of experience in roles such as Head Guide, Head Avalanche Forecaster, Avalanche Blasting Technician, Avalanche Educator, Heli Avalanche Bombardier, Commercial Heli Pilot and Seaplane Pilot. Brill is well known for his innovative contributions to the ski industry, including building Silverton Mountain Ski Area — and developing a revolutionary snow safety plan to manage the extreme avalanche hazards of the San Juan Mountains.

Brill possesses unique extensive technical and business experience and has created specialized safety protocols and guide training techniques unique and proprietary to SMG. Aaron enjoys the toughest guide assignments and has worked for renowned entities such as Warren Miller, Teton Gravity Research, Matchstick Productions, CBS 60 Minutes, NBC Sports, Fox, ABC, the Discovery Channel and large-scale athlete events like the Red Bull Cold Rush. Aaron has established an unrivaled permit network that includes National Parks, USFS, BLM and state land agencies across a massive area.

SMG helicopter and guides with guests in the Northern Chugach mountains of Alaska

SMG guide standing on an Alaska ridge reading the line down a steep untracked face

SMG guides and guests on a sharp snowy ridge in the Alaska backcountry

Curious what a day with our guides is really like? Our guests say it best.

Read Guest Reviews

Guiding

Two professional guides with every group

Unlike other heli ski operations in Alaska, SMG provides a minimum of two professional guides with each group as standard (some guests even opt to add a 3rd guide). This allows for a very personalized experience with better visual and verbal contact, and a more thorough assessment of snow, avalanche and helicopter safety for each group. This additional safety measure is similar to having a co-pilot on an airplane — and it's part of why SMG Alaska Heli Ski is consistently ranked as the best heli skiing in the world by its guests.

More runs, better pace

The presence of two guides opens up more run choices and enhances the pace of the day. With two guides assisting in loading and unloading the ski basket and monitoring the front and back of the group, the day runs more efficiently — improving safety and increasing the number of runs guests enjoy. If only one guide is present and it becomes difficult to maintain visual or verbal contact, guests are faced with the choice of riding shorter pitches with frequent stops or compromising safety.

A full-time profession

SMG's highly experienced elite guides have been with SMG for many years. Each guide has additional extensive experience as avalanche blaster technicians and you will find the team in diverse snow climates, including guiding in South America. They engage in snow related work throughout the entire winter — this is their full time profession, they are not moonlighting as guides.

Meet the team

Chris Coulter

Professional Snowboard Guide

Chris Coulter has spent over two decades chasing winter around the globe, guiding in some of the most demanding terrain North and South America have to offer. From the steep lines of Colorado and Utah to multi-season stints in the Alaskan backcountry, Chris built his reputation as a rider who reads terrain with precision and moves through it with purpose.

For more than 20 years, that pursuit has carried him into the endless winter heading to the Southern Hemisphere each summer guiding and coaching in Argentina and Chile, from the terrain around Bariloche’s Cerro Catedral to the deep, remote lines of the Chilean Andes. That same drive for untouched terrain has led to numerous first descents. His years spent alongside some of the region’s most respected backcountry guides, building a deep knowledge of snowpack, terrain, and mountain travel.

Before turning to guiding full-time, Chris built a career as a professional snowboarder, featured in Absinthe Snowboard Films including the iconic Snowbird gap and Rockers Gap, a massive step-down in the Utah backcountry.

Chris holds an Avalanche Level 3 certification and Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) training, and has held a Type 1 Explosives Permit since 2010. This is the type of technical depth that underpins Silverton’s approach to route selection and avalanche mitigation. Off the mountain, he’s a dedicated hot yoga practitioner and spends his summers riding and racing motorcycles, drawing on an earlier background in rock climbing, martial arts, and surfing.

SMG guide Calvin in a yellow jacket in front of the helicopter on a snowy Alaskan ridge

Calvin Davenport

Professional Ski Guide

Calvin Davenport has spent 16 years guiding with SMG in the steep terrain of Colorado and the big lines of Alaska. He grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado, and now calls Silverton home. Sixteen seasons have given him a deep, firsthand knowledge of the snowpack and the mountains he guides in.

Calvin is also the Assistant Snow Safety Director at Silverton Mountain, where he helps run the avalanche mitigation, snow safety and heli-skiing programs. He holds an Avalanche Pro 2 certification, current Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) certification and a Type 1 Explosives Permit. He has also completed WFR and EMT training during his career.

Calvin started out in competition, with years of ski racing and competitive freestyle skiing behind him. Photos of his skiing have run in Powder Magazine, Backcountry Magazine and The Ski Journal, and he is a Fischer Skis ambassador.

What Calvin loves most about guiding is watching guests safely push their boundaries and do things they didn’t think they could. Off the snow, you’ll find him mountain biking, paragliding, rafting and spending time with his family, including his twin boys.

Ready to plan your Alaska heli ski trip?

Tell us your dates, group size and ability level and we will build the trip around the best snow in Alaska.

Call SMG (907) 830-1122